wise friend. I heard a servant of Jesus Christ, with
keys, meeting his responsibility to warn and passing
to us, the parents, the responsibility to act. When
we honor the keys of that priesthood channel by
listening and giving heed, we tie ourselves to
a lifeline which will not fail us in any storm.
Our Heavenly Father loves us. He sent His Only
Begotten Son to be our Savior. He knew that in
mortality we would be in grave danger, the worst of
it from the temptations of a terrible adversary. That
is one of the reasons why the Savior has provided
priesthood keys so that those with ears to hear and
faith to obey could go to places of safety.
Accept Counsel Humbly
Having listening ears requires humility. You remember
the Lord’s warning to Thomas B. Marsh. He was
then the President of the Quorum of the Twelve
Apostles. The Lord knew that President Marsh and
his brethren of the Twelve would be tested. He gave
counsel about taking counsel. The Lord said, “Be
thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee
by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers”
(D&C 112:10).
The Lord added a warning that is applicable to any
who follow a living prophet: “Exalt not yourselves;
rebel not against my servant Joseph; for verily I say
unto you, I am with him, and my hand shall be
over him; and the keys which I have given unto
him, and also to youward, shall not be taken from
him till I come” (D&C 112:15).
Follow Counsel for the Safety of Others
God offers us counsel not just for our own safety,
but for the safety of His other children, whom we
should love. There are few comforts so sweet as to
know that we have been an instrument in the hands
of God in leading someone else to safety. That
blessing generally requires the faith to follow counsel
when it is hard to do. An example from Church
history is that of Reddick Newton Allred. He was one
of the rescue party sent out by Brigham Young to
bring in the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies.
When a terrible storm hit, Captain Grant, captain
of the rescue party, decided to leave some of the
wagons by the Sweetwater River as he pressed ahead
to find the handcart companies. With the blizzards
howling and the weather becoming life-threatening,
two of the men left behind at the Sweetwater decided
that it was foolish to stay. They thought that
either the handcart companies had wintered over
somewhere or had perished. They decided to return
to the Salt Lake Valley and tried to persuade everyone
else to do the same.
Reddick Allred refused to budge. Brigham had sent
them out, and his priesthood leader had told him
to wait there. The others took several wagons, all
filled with needed supplies, and started back. Even
more tragic, each wagon they met coming out from
Salt Lake they turned back as well. They turned back
77 wagons, returning all the way to Little Mountain,
where President Young learned what was happening
and turned them around again. When the Willie
Company was finally found, and had made that
heartrending pull up and over Rocky Ridge, it was
Reddick Allred and his wagons that waited for them.
(See Rebecca Bartholomew and Leonard J. Arrington,
Rescue of the 1856 Handcart Companies[1992], 29,
33–34.)
In this conference you will hear inspired counsel, for
instance, to reach out to the new members of the
Church. Those with the faith of Reddick Newton
Allred will keep offering friendship even when it
seems not to be needed or to have no effect. They
will persist. When some new member reaches the
point of spiritual exhaustion, they will be there
offering kind words and fellowship. They will then
feel the same divine approval Brother Allred felt when
he saw those handcart pioneers struggling toward
him, knowing he could offer them safety because
he had followed counsel when it was hard to do.
While the record does not prove it, I am confident
that Brother Allred prayed while he waited. I am
confident that his prayers were answered. He then
knew that the counsel to stand fast was from God.
We must pray to know that. I promise you answers
to such prayers of faith.Be Patient When Counsel Seems Not
to Apply
Sometimes we will receive counsel that we cannot
understand or that seems not to apply to us, even
after careful prayer and thought. Don’t discard the
counsel, but hold it close. If someone you trusted
handed you what appeared to be nothing more
than sand with the promise that it contained gold,
you might wisely hold it in your hand awhile,
shaking it gently. Every time I have done that with
counsel from a prophet, after a time the gold flakes
have begun to appear and I have been grateful.292 PROPHETICCOUNSEL